Medina officer accused of dropping charges for sex

SEATTLE – A Medina police officer was charged this week with Official Misconduct for allegedly having sex with a woman after promising to have charges against her "go away."

According to probable cause documents from Issaquah police, Officer Ismael Gaston Garcia Ramirez, pulled over the woman on Hunt's Point Road on November 23, 2008. He learned that the woman was driving with a suspended license for an unpaid parking ticket. A search of her car later revealed a small amount of, what appeared to be, marijuana.

While the woman was handcuffed in the back of the patrol car, investigators say she began flirting with Ramirez, who reciprocated. The documents say Ramirez told her she was an "incredibly sexy woman." He allegedly told her that he had to write the tickets because she had been detained for so long, but that he would take care of everything and that the charges would "go away."

Investigators say Ramirez released the woman, gave her his card with his department-issued cell phone number and told her he would like to see her again.

Five days later, Ramirez allegedly e-mailed a Kirkland prosecutor and asked for the charges to be dropped, saying the marijuana was too small an amount to test.

Two days after that, Ramirez and the woman allegedly met at a pub in Issaquah then went to his home. Investigators say Ramirez had promised to give the woman a letter to take to prosecutors, but he never did. Ramirez allegedly had sex with the woman over her objections. She later said she gave in because she thought she had a lot to lose.

Investigators say, after several more attempts to get the charges dismissed, the woman asked a prosecutor to check her file for any letters from Ramirez asking for the charges to be dismissed. The prosecutor found previous e-mails for the request and the charges were dropped.

The woman reported what happened between her and Ramirez to police on March 18. An investigation found 10 phone calls and 38 text messages between Ramirez and the woman.

In the charging papers, prosecutors say one of the reasons Ramirez committed the crime was for his sexual gratification.